1. Do the Nigerian people have a constitutional right to peaceful protest in the defence of their rights to life and dignity of human person or against policies of government, which do not represent their best interest?

2. Can it be said that hoodlums hijack peaceful protests when they could not infiltrate the peaceful order of the protests, which were carefully organised and peacefully carried at designated areas and routes nationwide?

3. If there were hoodlums, who ‘hijacked’ the protests before the bloodbath of Tuesday, October 20, 2020 are they not the direct products of the socio-economic policies of successive governments in Nigeria, which has impoverished majority of Nigerians over the years? Or why has hoodlums not taken advantage of the Hong Kong protests, which began since March 15, 2020?

4. Could the hoodlums, (who first came on the scene to disrupt the peaceful protests but failed) have been hired by government to break the ranks of the peaceful protesters and truncate their noble cause?

5. If the hoodlums, who withdrew to the streets were not hired by government, why was it difficult for the government to bring them under the control of law enforcement beginning from arrests? Or did the hoodlums overrun the entire apparatus of state security, which often show the character of being impregnable in it’s dealing with the person on the street?

6. If there were hoodlums, is it the responsibility of the protesters to subdue and arrest the hoodlums under the law?

7. If we agree that the protesting youths were exercising their fundamental human rights to protest peacefully, why must they be enjoined by the state to stop expressing such rights when there was no demonstrated genuine efforts or declared protocol and strategies on the part of the government to meet their demands?

8. Does it not amount to insulting the intelligence of the youth and the rest of Nigerians that changing the name of SARS to SWAT is a way of meeting the demands of the protesters when in actual fact this is not the first time the government would claim it has proscribed SARS, only for it to resurface with more violence and vengeance against the people?

9. Is this the first time the Nigerian state has been advised on the need for police reform and the same is always thrown into the dustbin of social, economic and political priorities of government?

10. Is it not a grave indictment on the government that by the way it has managed its relationship with the people over the years does not evoke the confidence and trust of the people when it makes promises to them, like in this case claiming it has met some of their demands and promising to meet the rest?

11. Does the government genuinely believe its own words in good conscience not to talk of expecting the people to believe the same in view of its conducts and character, which have little or no respect for the welfare and the security of the people, which according to the constitution is the primary aim of government?

12. When a people demand for their rights within the ambits and discipline of the law like peaceful protests, can they ever be out of order when they continue to strictly adhere to the law and be accused of escalating the the protests?

13. How come the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, who is also the Chief Security Officer of Nigeria and who should be the Chief Servant Leader of the nation is missing in action in the last three weeks since the peaceful protests began and hoodlums began to make their own ignoble incursions?

14. How come it is the state governments that are setting up Judicial Commissions of Enquiry when the Federal Government, who has the full control of the Nigerian Police Force as a national law enforcement agency is yet to wake up and give directives and directions on the state of affairs?

15. Do we really need Judicial Commissions of Enquiry set up in different states to sit for another six months looking into the obvious cases and allegations of police brutality masterminded by SARS operatives, when the Ministries of Justice of the states could have been directed to prosecute these cases, obtaining records from the police? Is this not a time and tax payers money wasting exercise, which also serve as a decoy to obfuscate the real issues?

16. Considering the gross social(security) and political mismanagement of these peaceful protests, which led to the escalation of the same, has the Inspection General of the Police not failed in his duties and should resign or sacked by the President forthwith?

In my part 2 of this conversation, I will deal with the Lekki Toll Gate alleged killings of Tuesday, October 12 and the attendant violence of Wednesday, October 21 and the conspiracies thereof, including the ethnic sentiments being introduced to the whole situation.

Thank you and do have an INSPIRED day

Taiwo AKINLAMI